STATEHOUSE –Rep. Tim Neese (R-Elkhart) will attend a roundtable forum to discuss solutions to Hoosiers’ concerns with telephone solicitation, scams and fraud. Attorney General Greg Zoeller, state legislators, telemarketing companies and consumer organizations will also attend the Friday, Sept. 7, forum in Fort Wayne. Two other such meetings are also scheduled.

In 2001, Indiana lawmakers passed House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1222 which required the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General to create a Do Not Call telephone list. The law prohibits telephone solicitors from contacting individuals on the list and penalizes violators.

“The Do Not Call legislation was necessary to protect an individual’s right to privacy,” said Rep. Neese. “However, with the technological advances made in this industry, new measures must be taken to ensure that peoples’ rights continue to stay protected. This meeting will assist in determining what needs to be done to successfully safeguard all Hoosiers.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other regulatory agencies have successfully prevented a majority of illegal telemarketing calls, robo-calls and scammers. However, new technological advancements are battering the securities, provided by the law, and as efforts to enforce this regulation continue, the technology that hides rogue telemarketers and those behind robo-calls remain undetected.

To counter these advancements, several amendments were made to expand the law to cover cellular phones and Voice over Internet Protocol (V0IP). Although this expansion reduced the amount of unwanted telemarketing calls, the forum intends to discuss ways to stay ahead of the fresh technologies invented to ensure better privacy protection for all Hoosiers.

"In 2010, the Do Not Call legislation took effect. It was then and remains one of the toughest in the nation; however telephone technology has gradually become more sophisticated and now has the ability to challenge and unfortunately, at times, overcome the previous implemented safeguards,” said Rep. Neese. “It is time to regroup and stay ahead of the "bad guys," who are very well organized."

Rep. Neese, welcomes input from residents, to which he will relay such concerns at the meeting. He can be contacted at: 574-293-3894, 1-800-382-9841 or h48@in.gov. To register as part of the Do Not Call list, please visit www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/2445.htm.

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